A coalition of concerned citizens, labor organizations, advocacy groups and OccupyLA protesters demonstrated outside News Corporation's annual shareholders' meeting on Friday, Oct. 21.
While we come from different backgrounds and have different interests we are joining together in Los Angeles because we believe that no single company should be allowed to own an overwhelming share of the media in our country.
This is the list of grievances and demands we delivered to a News Corp. representative during the shareholder meeting:
- Under Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. has accumulated toxic levels of media power -- including cable channels, news networks, newspapers, television stations, movie studios and more. News Corp. leverages its news and entertainment empire to bully regulators, elect compliant politicians, gain regulatory favors and undermine the public interest.
This habitual misconduct tells a story of a rogue corporation that has no business dictating government policy or polluting the democratic process in America.
The loose affiliation of groups that will protest on Friday -- including Common Cause, OccupyLA, Free Press, Avaaz.org, Good Jobs LA, Brave New Foundation, National Lawyers Guild and others -- demand that News Corp. shareholders make unscrupulous company executives and the board accountable to U.S. law and the public interest.
We demand that Congress immediately convene an investigation and hearings into the many serious allegations of illegal acts by News Corp.
We demand that the FCC review all broadcast licenses granted to News Corp. to determine whether they meet the agency's "character qualifications." If investigations result in criminal convictions, News Corp. should forfeit its licenses to use our airwaves.
We demand that shareholders pledge that News Corp. will not make any more political contributions during the 2012 election cycle. The company's special interest donations have already impaired government's ability to address our nation's most critical problems. News Corp. must cease funding practices that harm the public interest.